Bioinspired fibers change color when stretched | e! Science News

image Peter Vukusic

images Mathias kolle

“A team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter, UK, have invented a new fiber that changes color when stretched. Inspired by nature, the researchers identified and replicated the unique structural elements that create the bright iridescent blue color of a tropical plants fruit. The multilayered fiber, described January 28 in the journal Advanced Materials, could lend itself to the creation of smart fabrics that visibly react to heat or pressure.”Our new fiber is based on a structure we found in nature, and through clever engineering weve taken its capabilities a step further,” says lead author Mathias Kolle, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences SEAS. “The plant, of course, cannot change color. By combining its structure with an elastic material, however, weve created an artificial version that passes through a full rainbow of colors as its stretched.”…..